Nicolas (II)

Acts vi. 5.II. NICOLAS, one of the seven first Deacons. He was a Proselyte of Antioch, that is to say, converted from Paganism to the Religion of the Jews. Afterwards he embraced Christianity, and was one of the most zealous and most holy amongst the first Christians; so that he was chosen for one of the seven first Deacons of the Church of Jerusalem. His Memory has been tarnish’d in the Church by a Blemish, from which it has not been possible to clear him hitherto. Certain Hereticks were called Nicolaites from his Name; and tho’ perhaps he had no Share in their Errors, nor their Irregularities, yet he is suspected to have given at least some Handle to them. This is what the Ancients inform us in this Matter¹. He had a Wife who was very handsome, and in Imitation of those that aim’d at a great Degree of Perfection, he left her to live in a State of Continence. St. Epiphanius says, that he did not persevere in this Resolution, but took his Wife again, and in order to justify his Conduct, he advanced Principles that were contrary to Truth and Purity. He plunged himself into Irregularities, and gave Beginning to the Sect of the Nicolaites, to that of the Gnosticks, and to several others, who following the Bent of their Passions, invented a thousand different sorts of Crimes and Wickednesses.

St. Epiphanius is supported in this by St. Irenæus², Tertullian³, St. Hyppolitus⁴, St. Hilary⁵, St. Gregory of Nyssa⁶, St. Philaster of Bressa⁷, St. Jerom⁸, Cassian⁹, Gregory the Great¹⁰, Pacian, Pope Gelasius, Gildas, and several Moderns, who say¹¹ that Nicolas the Deacon was Head and Author of the impious and infamous Sect of the Nicolaites.

But Clemens Alexandrinus¹², more ancient than Epiphanius, expresses much Esteem for Nicolas, and relates the Affair quite otherwise. The Apostles, says he, having made some Reproaches to Nicolas, as being too jealous of his Wife, he caused her to come before them all, and declar’d that any one might espouse her that pleas’d. This Declaration, which he made in pure Simplicity, and without due Reflection, was only designed as a Proof of the little Attachment and Passion he had for his Wife; and in reality, as St. Clement adds, I have been informed he never cohabited with any other Woman. And as for his Son and his Daughters, who lived very long, they always remained in perfect Virginity. But such as were glad to use the Pretence of his Authority, vindicated themselves by what he had done, in order to abandon themselves to all sorts of Irregularity.

These Hereticks grounded themselves, as the same Clement reports¹³, upon a Word that Nicolas let fall, that the Flesh ought to be abused. By which he meant nothing else, but that we ought to suppress our Inclinations to Sensuality and Concupiscence, and to mortify the Passions, and the Impetuosities of the Flesh; whereas these Disciples of Pleasure explained these Words according to their Sensuality, and not according to the Meaning of this Apostolical Man. Eusebius¹⁴ having related, that the Nicolaites gloried in having Nicolas the Deacon as the Author of their Sect; he confutes them by bringing at length this Passage of Clemens Alexandrinus. Theodoret¹⁵ does the same thing, and declares himself still more openly for the Sentiment of Clemens. For excusing the Permission of Nicolas; by which he allowed any one to marry his Wife, he says that the Deacon had in reality no Inclination to permit it, but only intended by this voluntary Offer, to confute those that had raised a murmuring against him. St. Austin¹⁶, Victorinus Petaviensis¹⁷, Isidorus, and the Council of Tours acquit him likewise. The Apostolical Constitutions¹⁸, and the interpolated Letters of St. Ignatius the Martyr¹⁹, affirm that the Nicolaites falsly assume this Name. This is what is said in his Vindication.

Cassian says²⁰, that some distinguish Nicolas the Founder of the Sect of the Nicolaites, from Nicolas one of the seven first Deacons. Probably he would hint at the Author of the Apostolical Constitutions, who says that the Nicolaites unjustly skreen themselves under the Authority of Nicolas one of the first Deacons. Jesus Christ, in the Revelation of St. John, in two Places condemns the Actions and the Doctrine of the Nicolaites. He says he hates them, he makes it a Merit in the Bishop of Ephesus that he abhors them, and reproaches the Bishop of Pergamus that some of his Church adhered to their Doctrine. In all these Passages St. John does not insinuate the least Thing that may seem to excuse Nicolas, nor to clear him from the Accusation of his being the Author of the Sect of the Nicolaites; and we see that no Christian Church has ever paid any Honour to the Memory of Nicolas, which is a great Circumstance against him.

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